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A  FIFTH  DAT 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL. 


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jMfti)    33ag 


The  Harvesters. 


A  FIFTH  DAY 


IN 


MARY  CARROWS  SCHOOL. 


terinm  #trakt!-f  rjimil  % mt, 

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AMERICAN  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION, 

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H 


jMftj)    21*2? 


Eddy  at  the  Window,— Just  up.— p.  5. 


A 

FIFTH  DAY 

IN 

MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL. 


THE   FORESTERS     COTTAGE. 

I  will  take  my  little  readers  over  to  Eddy 
Forester's,  this  morning. 

There  is  Eddy  at  the  window,  just  up. 
Do  you  see  him  in  the  picture  ?  He  has  open- 
ed the  window,  and  is  glad  to  find  the  sun  is 
shining ;  for  the  first  thing  he  thought  of  this 
morning,  when  he  awoke,  was  the  mowing- 
party  to  be  at  Linn's. 


6  A   FIFTH    DAY   IN 

As  soon  as  Eddy  was  half-dressed,  he  went 
to  the  little  bedroom  where  Lily  slept,  and 
called,  "Sister  Lily!  Sister  Lily!  Get  up; 
it  isn't  raining,  and  we  shall  have  the  hay- 
making party  this  afternoon." 

Lily  was  apt  to  be  sleepy  in  the  morning, 
and  she  would  not  get  up ;  but  Eddy  called  and 
thumped  at  the  door  till  his  little  sister  was 
wide  awake,  and  then  she  got  up  and  came 
to  open  it.  He  kissed  her  and  said,  "Come, 
Lily,  I  will  help  you  to  carry  your  clothes 
down  to  mother's  room,  and  she  will  dress  you. 
If  you  were  not  such  a  big  girl,  I  would  carry 
you,  too;  but  I'm  afraid,  if  I  did  that,  we 
might  both  get  a  tumble.  Don't  you  think 
we  should,  Lily  ?"  Lily  was  sometimes  a  lit- 
tle cross  when  she  first  waked  in  the  morn- 


MARY    CARROWS   SCHOOL.  7 

ing;  but  Eddy  talked  to  her  till  she  was  in  a 
good  humour.  He  liked  to  take  her  out  with 
him  in  the  morning,  when  he  went  to  do 
what  he  could  for  his  mother  before  breakfast, 
and  he  sometimes  had  to  bear  a  good  deal  with 
her  little  pets  and  humours  before  they  could 
get  off. 

Their  mother  heard  them  talking  overhead, 
and  then  she  heard  their  little  naked  feet  pat- 
tering along  the  entry  and  on  the  stairway; 
and  she  wondered  why  they  were  so  long  com- 
ing to  her. 

Shall  I  tell  my  little  readers  why  Eddy  and 
Lily  stopped  on  their  way  ? 

In  the  stairway  wall,  about  half-way  down, 
there  was  a  small  window  which  overlooked 
the  garden. 


8  A   FIFTH   DAY  IN 

There  was  something  in  the  garden  which 
had  been  placed  there  the  day  before.  Eddy 
knew  of  it,  but  Lily  did  not.  It  was  a  bee- 
liive,  for  the  bees  to  make  honey  in. 

When  they  were  on  the  step,  just  under 
the  little  window,  Eddy  said,  "Stop,  Lily, 
and  I  will  show  you  something  you  have  ne- 
ver seen — something  that  begins  with  a  B. 
Would  you  like  to  see  it  ? " 

My.  Yes,  Eddy.  What  is  it  ?  A  little 
pig? 

Eddy.  No.  I  said  it  began  with  a  B,  not 
with  a  P.     You  must  guess  again. 

Lily.     A  pussy-cat? 

Eddy.  No.  It  begins  with  B,  I  tell  you. 
That  is  not  it,  either. 

Lily  could  not  guess,  and   Eddy  said  he 


MARY    CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  9 

would  show  it  to  her,  if  she  could  climb  up 
into  the  window.  Then  he  sat  down  on  one 
of  the  stairs,  and  told  Lily  to  get  upon  the 
step  behind  him,  and  to  put  her  foot  on  his 
shoulder,  and  then  she  must  take  hold  of  the 
window-sill,  and  he  would  raise  her  up.  Lily 
did  so,  and  Eddy  climbed  up  beside  her,  and 
showed  her  the  beehive  in  the  garden. 

While  they  were  there,  talking  about  the 
bee-hive,  their  mother  called  them,  and  they 
soon  came  down  again  and  ran  to  her.  Lily 
could  hardly  wait  to  be  dressed,  she  was  so 
eager  to  have  a  closer  look  at  the  beehive. 
"Her  mother  told  her  she  might  go  with  Eddy, 
if  she  would  not  touch  the  bees ;  for  if  she 
did,  they  would  sting  her. 

After  Lily  was  dressed,  her  mother  took  out 


10  A  FIFTH    DAY   IN 

of  the  closet  a  pair  of  thick- soled,  leather  boots, 
which  she  was  to  put  on  when  she  went  out 
with  Eddy,  early  in  the  morning,  while  the 
grass  was  wet  with  dew.  Then  she  wish- 
ed Lily  to  sit  down,  and  put  them  on  herself; 
and  while  she  was  doing  this,  Eddy  went  for 
his  boots,  and  then  they  set  off  together  to 
look  at  the  beehive. 

Eddy  slipped  back  the  little  door  which  was 
placed  in  the  side  of  the  hive,  and  then,  through 
the  glass,  he  and  Lily  peeped,  to  see  the  little,  in- 
dustrious bees  at  work.  They  saw  them  travel- 
ling to  and  fro,  inside  of  their  glass  house;  but 
they  did  not  know  much  about  bees,  and  could 
not  tell  what  they  were  doing.  They  only  knew 
that  bees  made  wax  and  honey,  and  they  knew 
that  honey  was  very  nice,  for  they  had  eaten  it. 


jmti)    Mas 


Eddy  and  Lily  looking  at  the  bee-hive.— p.  10. 


MARY  CARROW'S   SCHOOL.  11 

"We  will  ask  Mary  all  about  the  bees, 
when  we  go  to  school,"  said  Eddy.  "  She 
can  tell  us  what  they  are  doing  inside  of  their 
little  house." 

When  they  were  satisfied  with  looking  at 
the  beehive,  and  talking  about  the  industri- 
ous little  bees,  Eddy  said — 

"  Come,  Lily ;  do  you  want  to  go  with  me 
to  bring  Brindle  up,  for  mother  to  milk  ?" 

Lily  said  "  Yes."  And  Eddy  took  her  by  the 
hand  and  led  her  very  carefully,  out  of  the 
way  of  some  swampy  ground  which  was  near 
the  garden-wall,  and  then  they  had  two  mea- 
dows to  cross  and  a  fence  to  climb  over  before 
they  found  the  cow.  Brindle  knew  Eddy 
right  well,  and  he  had  no  trouble  in  driving 
her  home  to  the  barnyard  to  be  milked.     He 


12  A   FIFTH   DAY   IN 

had  a  long  stick,  which  he  had  cut  from  a 
hickory-tree,  and  whenever  Brindle  walked 
out  of  the  right  path,  he  gave  her  a  little  tap 
with  the  stick,  and  that  was  quite  enough  of 
a  hint  to  turn  her  into  the  track  again. 

Eddy  and  Lily  loved  the  old  cow,  and  they 
played  with  her,  and  talked  to  her  as  if  she 
understood  them. 

After  Lily's  mother  had  milked  the  cow, 
she  carried  the  pail,  which  was  filled  with 
milk,  into  the  spring-house,  and  there,  on  the 
stone  floor,  were  two  nice,  bright  tin  pans, 
all  ready  to  receive  it.  She  took  down  from 
its  place  a  fine  sieve,  which  she  put  first  over 
one  pan,  and  then  over  the  other,  as  she  pour- 
ed the  milk  into  them.  This  was  done  in 
order  to  strain  the  milk  and  have  it  perfectly 


MARY    CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  13 

clean — free  from  motes  and  hairs,  and  the 
small  insects  which  are  often  flying  about 
barnyards. 

When  the  pans  were  filled  with  the  nice 
new  milk,  Eddy  assisted  his  mother  in  carry- 
ing the  water,  with  which  to  clean  her 
milkpail,  and  Lily  went  to  the  house  to  get 
the  cream  cup,  that  it  might  be  filled  with 
cream  for  breakfast. 

Then  Eddy  drove  Brindle  away  back  to 
the  meadow,  where  she  could  eat  her  good 
breakfast  of  grass,  while  his  mother  and  Lily 
went  home  to  prepare  their's. 

Lily  carried  the  cream  cup,  and  her  mother 
carried  a  pot  of  butter  in  cold  water  to  keep 
it  hard.  The  first  thing  they  did  when  they 
went  into  the  house  was  to  put  on  dry  shoes. 


14  A   FIFTH   DAY    IN 

Then  Lily's  mother  began  to  prepare  break- 
fast. Lily  could  place  the  cream  and  butter 
and  bread  on  the  table,  after  her  mother  had 
cut  it;  and  she  knew  where  the  sugar  was 
kept,  and  could  fill  the  sugar-bowl,  and  she 
could  count  as  many  eggs  as  were  wanted  for 
breakfast,  and  bring  them  to  her  mother  from 
the  pantry.  Then  she  put  a  plate  for  her 
mother,  and  one  for  Eddy,  and  one  for  her- 
self, and  a  knife  and  fork  for  each,  and  an 
egg-cup  and  a  napkin.  When  Lily  had  done 
all  this,  she  asked  her  mother,  (as  any  other 
good  little  girl  would  do,)  if  she  could  assist 
her  in  any  thing  else? 

Her  mother  told  her  she  might  go  up-stairs 
and  take  the  bedclothes  off  Eddy's  little  bed, 
and  off  her  own;  first  the  coverlets,  which 


MARY   CARROW'S   SCHOOL.  15 

she  could  put  on  the  back  of  a  chair;  then 
the  sheets,  one  by  one,  and  then  the  pillows 
and  bolster,  which  she  might  place  on  the 
window-sills  to  air. 

When  Lily  came  down-stairs,  Eddy  had 
returned,  and  breakfast  was  ready.  It  was 
only  six  o'clock,  when  the  Foresters  sat  down 
to  their  morning  meal.  They  were  a  happy 
little  family  of  love.  They  always  rose  ear- 
ly, and  finished  their  tasks  before  breakfast, 
and  when  they  came  to  the  table,  they  enjoy- 
ed their  meal  as  much  as  any  prince  in  his 
palace  could  do.  They  had  found  the  great 
secret  of  happiness  —  they  were  contented 
with  their  lot.  Eddy's  mother  would  some- 
times say,  her  cottage  and  her  children  made 
her  a  little  Garden  of  Eden,  in  the  midst  of 


16  A    FIFTH    DAY    IN 

which  God  had  planted  her,  that  she  might 
dress  it  and  keep  it. 

Eddy  and  Lily  had  a  great  deal  of  talk 
with  their  mother  at  table.  They  asked  her 
questions,  and  she  answered  them,  and  in- 
structed them  in  many  things. 

"I  will  take  another  egg,  if  you  please, 
mother,"  said  Eddy,  "  and  some  more  bread 
and  butter.  I  am  very  hungry  this  morning." 
Eddy  and  Lily  ate  their  eggs  as  their  mother 
had  taught  them,  without  soiling  their  fingers 
at  all.  They  took  their  knives,  and  cracked 
a  line  round  the  shell,  near  the  large  end, 
about  half  an  inch  from  the  top.  Then  they 
'peeled  off  the  shell  where  it  was  cracked,  and 
put  their  eggs  into  little  cups,  which  their 
mother   had  placed  for  each   of  them,  the 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  17 

peeled  end  being  uppermost ;  and  with  their 
spoons  they  ate  the  egg  from  the  shell. 
There  is  another  way  to  eat  eggs.  Cut 
through  the  middle  of  the  shell  into  the  egg, 
and  with  the  thumb  and  finger  of  each  hand 
break  it  open ;  hold  the  cut  part  next  to  your 
cup  or  glass,  and  let  the  contents  of  the 
shell  fall  into  your  cup.  But  little  boys  and 
girls  are  not  apt  to  do  this  dexterously;  so, 
for  fear  of  soiling  their  fingers,  (which  is  a 
very  offensive  habit,  at  table,)  they  had  better 
eat  eggs  as  Eddy  and  Lily  Forester  did. 


18  A    FIFTH    DAY    IN 

THE   WALK    TO   SCHOOL. 

As  Eddy  and  Lily  walked  to  school,  they 
had  to  wait,  when  they  got  to  the  wide  turn- 
piked  road,  for  two  travelling-carriages  to 
pass.  While  they  waited,  a  little  curly-head- 
ed boy  dropped  something  out  of  one  of  the 
carriage  windows,  and  Eddy  told  Lily  to 
stand  still  where  she  was,  while  he  went  and 
picked  it  up.  It  was  a  large  humming-top, 
and  when  he  handed  it  to  the  little  boy  who 
had  dropped  it,  the  little  boy  said,  "I  thank 
you,  Eddy  Forester.  I  wish  you  would  ask 
your  mother  to  let  you  come  and  see  me, 
when  we  come  back,  and  I  will  show  you  how 
my  top  hums  when  I  spin  it."  Eddy  said 
he  would  like  to  come,  and  then  the  carriage 


MARY   C ARROW'S    SCHOOL.  19 

passed  on.  It  belonged  to  their  neighbour, 
Thompson,  a  gentleman  who  had  a  beautiful 
country-seat  near  the  Foresters'  cottage. 

"I  wish  we  could  ride  in  that  pretty  car- 
riage, and  have  little  ponies,  as  Willy  and 
Alfred  Thompson  have,"  said  Lily.  "Don't 
you,  Eddy?"  "Yes,"  said  Eddy.  "I  won- 
der why  mother  hasn't  as  much  money  as  the 
Thompsons,  and  why  she  cannot  have  ser- 
vants to  milk  and  get  breakfast  and  dinner, 
as  they  have,  instead  of  doing  it  all  herself." 

"  I  don't  know  why  it  is,"  said  Lily ;  "  but 
we  will  ask  Mary  as  soon  as  we  go  to  school." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  Eddy  replied.  "  Mary  knows ; 
she  can  tell  us  all  about  it,  and  about  the 
bees  too." 

And  with  this  happy  hope  of  an  answer  to 


20  A   FIFTH    DAY   IN 

all  their  questions  and  doubts,  the  little  bro- 
ther and  sister  began  to  look  about  them  for 
something  else  to  enjoy  and  talk  about. 

"  Look !  look !  Lily.  Here  is  an  ant-hill. 
Don't  tread  on  it.  The  little  ants  are  bring- 
ing grains  of  sand  to  make  it  bigger." 

Lily.  Why  do  they  creep  in  at  that  hole 
in  the  top  of  the  hill  ?     Do  you  know,  Eddy  ? 

Then  they  both  stooped  down  and  watched 
the  little  ants;  and  while  they  did  so,  Eddy 
told  his  sister  that  the  hill  was  the  house 
which  the  little  ants  had  built  for  themselves 
to  live  in,  and  that  the  hole  at  the  top  was 
their  front-door,  where  they  went  in  and  out 
of  their  house. 

Lily.     Why  do  they  go  in  and  out  of  it? 

Eddy.     Because   they   are   building   little 


MARY    CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  21 

rooms  inside  of  it,  and  those  pellets  of  sand 
and  earth  which  they  carry  in  with  them  are 
what  they  build  with.  They  use  those  little  pel- 
lets just  as  the  masons  use  bricks  when  they 
build  houses  for  people  to  live  in.  They  pile 
them  up  close  together  to  make  the  walls  and 
ceilings  of  their  little  rooms,  inside  the  hill 
which  you  see. 

Lily.     Who  told  you  about  it,  Eddy? 

Eddy.  Mary  told  me  one  day,  when  she 
and  I  carried  some  things  over  to  Mike's  mo- 
ther. She  and  I  stopped  to  look  at  some  ant- 
hills, and  we  talked  about  them  all  the  way 
home. 

Lily.  What  else  did  Mary  tell  you  about 
the  little  ants  ? 

Eddy.     She  said  that  after  the  rooms  in- 


22  A   FIFTH    DAY  IN 

side  the  hills  were  finished,  the  ants  laid  their 
eggs  in  them;  and  when  the  sun  made  the 
little  rooms  nearest  the  top  of  the  hill  too 
warm  for  the  eggs,  the  ants  removed  the  eggs 
into  the  cellar  of  their  houses ;  for  they  make 
rooms  under  the  ground  as  well  as  above  it. 
When  the  young  ants  come  out  of  the  eggs, 
then  there  are  too  many  to  live  in  one  house, 
and  the  father  and  mother-ants  and  the  chil- 
dren-ants all  set  to  work  together,  and  build 
another  little  house. 

Lily.  Oh!  Eddy,  what  a  pretty  story 
about  ants !     Do  you  know  any  more  ? 

Eddy,  Yes.  Mary  told  me  these  little 
brown  ants  were  called  mason-ants,  because 
they  build  their  houses  as  masons  do;  and 
she  said  there  were  different  kinds  of  ants, 


MARY   CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  23 

and  some  time  she  would  tell  me  more  about 
them. 

When  Eddy  and  Lily  were  satisfied  with 
looking  at  the  ants  and  their  little  houses, 
they  went  on  again  to  school.  Suddenly, 
Lily  screamed,  "  Oh,  Eddy !  Eddy !  Take  it 
off!     Do  take  it  off!  Do  kill  it!" 

"What  is  the  matter?"  said  Eddy.  But 
poor  little  Lily  only  jumped  about  and  cried, 
"  Oh,  the  ugly  thing !     The  ugly  thing !" 

At  length  Eddy  discovered  that  a  caterpil- 
lar had  fallen  on  Lily's  neck,  from  one  of  the 
trees  under  which  they  were  walking. 

He  begged  Lily  to  be  quiet  while  he  took 
it  off,  telling  her  at  the  same  time  that  it 
would  not  hurt  her.  He  then  picked  a  green 
leaf  and  held  it  close  to  the  caterpillar,  and 


24  A   FIFTH    DAY   IN 

the  caterpillar  crept  off  Lilys  neck  and  came 
upon  the  leaf.  As  soon  as  she  knew  it  was 
off,  she  wanted  to  kill  it. 

"Oh  no!  You  must  not/' said  Eddy;  "let  the 
poor  little  thing  have  some  breakfast,  out  of 
this  tender  green  leaf.  We  have  had  ours, 
you  know,  and  this  leaf  is  the  little  caterpil- 
lar's bread  and  butter."  When  Lily  under- 
stood that  the  caterpillar  would  not  bite,  nor 
poison  her,  she  looked  at  it,  as  Eddy  pointed 
out  the  pretty  bright  rings  round  its  body, 
and  the  little  horns  on  its  head ;  and  when 
he  told  her  that  a  pretty  butterfly  would 
come  out  of  the  caterpillar,  if  it  were  let 
alone,  she  was  glad  she  did  not  kill  it. 

As  they  walked  along,  Lily  spied  a  beau- 
tiful rose,  just  outside  of  a  garden  railing. 


jfffti)   ©ai) 


They  saw  a  gentleman  sitting  in  an  arm-chair,  with  a 
book  in  his  lap,  and  his  eyes  uplifted. — p.  25. 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  25 

She  was  running  off  to  pluck  it,  but  Eddy 
held  her  by  the  arm. 

"  It  is  not  your's,  you  know,"  said  Eddy. 
"  It  would  be  stealing,  to  take  it." 

"Would  it?"  said  Lily.  "Then  let  us  go 
and  ask  for  it."  "  So  we  will,"  said  Eddy ; 
and  they  turned  back  a  short  distance,  to  a 
garden-gate,  which  they  opened  and  passed 
through.  They  found  themselves  in  a  beau- 
tiful garden,  where  were  flowers  of  various 
kinds  all  in  bloom.  Lily  could  hardly  keep 
her  hands  from  them,  but  Eddy  told  her  she 
must  not  touch  them  without  leave.  They 
went  on,  until  they  came  to  a  door,  which  was 
partly  open.  They  peeped  in,  and  saw  a 
gentleman  sitting  in  an  arm-chair,  with  a 
book  on  his  lap,  and  his  eyes  were  uplifted 


26  A   FIFTH    DAY   IN 

as  if  he  were  praying.  "It  is  our  pastor," 
whispered  Eddy,  and  at  that  moment  the 
good  man  espied  his  little  visitors.  He  held 
out  a  hand  to  each,  and  said,  "  Well,  my  little 
children,  have  you  any  thing  to  say  to  me 
this  morning?" 

Eddy  told  him  their  errand,  and  he  imme- 
diately laid  down  his  book,  put  on  his  hat, 
took  his  cane,  and  walked  with  them  into 
the  garden. 

"  May  we  have  one  of  your  pretty  roses  ?" 
said  Lily. 

"  Yes !  That  you  shall,  my  little  daughter, 
and  as  many  other  flowers  as  you  like.  Now, 
come  and  show  me  which  you  admire  most, 
and  I  will  cut  them  for  you." 

Their  good  pastor  made  them  up  a  beauti- 


MARY   C ARROW'S    SCHOOL.  27 

ful  nosegay,  and  then  dismissed  them,  invit- 
ing them  to  come  and  ask  for  flowers  again, 
if  they  wanted  them. 

Eddy  and  Lily  ran  off  to  school  with  the 
flowers,  and  Lily  said  they  would  give  them 
to  Mary.  On  the  way,  Lily  stopped  to  listen 
to  something. 

"  What  is  that  noise,  Eddy  ?  Do  you  hear  it  ?" 

Eddy.  Yes.  It  is  the  mill-wheels  grinding 
wheat,  to  make  flour;  but  we  must  not  stop 
now  any  longer,  or  we  shall  be  late  at  school. 

Eddy  and  Lily  were  the  last  at  school,  but 
not  late.  They  met  Mary,  just  as  they  went 
up  the  lane,  and  ran  to  her  with  the  flowers. 

"  Thank  you !  Thank  you !  for  your  beau- 
tiful gift,"  said  Mary.  "  I  will  give  you  each 
a  kiss  for  it." 


28  A   FIFTH   DAT   IN 

"  Definitions,  arithmetic,  spelling,  reading, 
sewing,  and  philosophy  is  the  order  of  to-day," 
said  Charles  Linn.  "  Come,  let  us  be  at  work, 
so  that  we  may  have  plenty  of  time  to  play 
in  our  harvest-fields  this  afternoon.  Father 
says  we  may  do  as  we  like — make  hay  or 
help  bind  the  wheat-sheaves.  At  any  rate, 
we  shall  have  fine  fun.  Father  is  coming  out 
to  work  with  us,  and,  at  lunch-time,  mother 
will  come  and  bring  the  baby." 

"May  I  nurse  the  baby,  Charles?"  said 
Lily  Forester. 

Carry  Beacon,  I  like  kittens  better  than 
babies,  because  babies  cry,  and  kittens 
don't. 

Mary.     Come,  now,  we  must  get  to  work, 


MARY    CAR  ROW'S    SCHOOL.  29 

and  talk  about  the  respective  merits  of  babies 
and  kittens  at  some  other  time.  What  is 
the  lesson  in  philosophy?  We  will  take  that 
first." 

Charles.     The  atmospheric  air. 

Mary.  What  can  you  tell  me  about  the 
atmospheric  air? 

Charles.     It  has  iveight. 

Susan  Field.     It  has  colour. 

Mary.  Lucy  Linn,  please  to  give  me  some 
proof  that  the  air  has  colour? 

Lucy.     The  blue  sky  is  a  proof  of  it. 

Mary.  How  does  that  prove  it  ?  Is  there 
any  thing  beyond  the  sky?  Any  surface 
which  reflects  this  colour,  and  makes  it  appear 
blue? 

Charles.      No.      The    atmospheric   air   is 


30  A   FIFTH   DAY   IN 

really  of  a  blue  colour ;  and  we  see  it  only  in 
the  sky,  because  between  our  eye  and  that 
distance  a  great  space  is  filled  with  atmo- 
spheric air.  The  air  is  composed  of  transpa- 
rent particles,  and  we  must  see  a  great  num- 
ber of  these  particles  lying  close  together,  in 
order  to  discover  their  true  colour. 

Mary.  Can  you  make  this  more  clear  to 
me  by  illustration  ? 

Charles.  Yes,  I  think  I  can.  If  I  take 
any  transparent  substance,  a  piece  of  glass 
for  instance,  so  slightly  coloured  that  I  cannot 
tell  whether  it  is  blue,  or  pink,  or  green,  by 
placing  another  piece  of  the  same  kind  of 
glass  behind  it,  the  colour  will  be  deepened ; 
and  if  I  place  a  number  of  pieces  of  glass  of 
the  same  kind  together,  thp  whole  of  them 


MARY    CARROW's    SCHOOL.  51 

will  be  so  distinctly  blue,  or  pink,  or  green, 
that  in  this  way  I  can  discover  the  colour  of 
the  first  piece. 

Just*  so  I  obtain  the  colour  of  the  air. 
The  particles  which  fill  the  space  between 
you  and  me,  being  transparent,  appear  colour- 
less because  there  are  so  few  of  them  toge- 
ther ;  and  if  I  look  beyond  you,  out  of  the 
window,  to  the  woods  across  there,  I  still  per- 
ceive no  colour  in  the  atmosphere.  But  if  I 
look  far,  far  beyond,  through  as  much  space 
as  my  eye  can  take  in,  then  I  find  out  the 
colour  of  the  air,  because  I  see  a  sufficient 
number  of  its  particles,  one  behind  another, 
to  give  it  to  me. 

Mary.      Is  there   any  other    transparent 


32  A    FIFTH    DAY    IN 

fluid,  the  colour  of  which  you  can  find  out  by 
the  same  means? 

Carry  D.  Yes.  Water.  If  I  stand  on 
the  bank  of  a  river,  or  on  a  boat,  or  in  any 
situation  where  I  see  a  large  body  of 
water,  it  appears  coloured;  sometimes  blue, 
sometimes  green.  And  I  know  I  can  only 
find  out  its  true  colour,  by  seeing  a  large  body 
of  it;  because,  if  I  were  to  take  a  cup  and  fill 
it  with  this  same  water,  it  would  be  colourless 
in  the  cup. 

Mary.  Very  satisfactory.  Now  I  should 
like  to  have  some  proof  that  the  air  has 
weight. 

The  scholars  hesitated,  and  Mary  asked 
them  if  flies,  walking  on  the  ceiling  without 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  33 

falling,  had  any  thing  to  do  with  the  weight 
and  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  ? 

Lacy,  Yes.  I  remember  now  what  you 
told  us  about  that.  The  feet  of  flies  are  so 
constructed  that  when  they  place  them  on 
any  surface,  the  atmospheric  air  is  excluded. 
There  is,  then,  no  air  between  their  feet  and 
the  ceiling,  or  wall,  or  pane  of  glass,  on 
which  they  are  walking,  and  the  weight  of 
the  atmospheric  air  on  the  outer  surface  of 
their  feet  keeps  them  in  their  position,  and 
prevents  them  from  falling. 

Mary.  What  else  can  you  tell  me  about 
it? 

Charles.  The  weight  of  the  air  falls  equal- 
ly on  every  side  of  a  body  which  is  ex- 
posed to  it. 


34  A   FIFTH   DAY   IN 

Mary.     Give  me  a  proof  of  it. 

Charles.  I  keep  my  upright  position  as  I 
stand  before  you,  because  the  atmospheric  air 
is  pressing  equally  upon  the  top  of  my  head, 
and  on  both  sides  of  me.  If  the  air  pressed 
with  greater  weight  on  my  head  than  on 
other  parts  of  my  body,  I  should  stoop  instead 
of  standing  upright ;  if  it  pressed  with  greater 
weight  on  one  side  of  my  body  than  on  the 
other,  I  should  lean  from  my  perpendicular 
position. 

Mary.  Very  good.  What  would  be  the 
effect  upon  you  if  the  air  had  no  weight,  and 
if  there  was  no  pressure  upon  the  surface  of 
your  body  ?    Would  you  fly,  as  the  birds  do  ? 

Charles.  No;  because  the  spaces  in  my 
bones,  and  in  other  parts  of  my  frame,  con- 


MARY  C ARROW'S  SCHOOL.  35 

tain  more  fluids  and  less  gases  than  those  in 
the  body  of  a  bird. 

Mary.  Very  true.  And  so  wisely  has  our 
Heavenly  Father  fashioned  all  his  creatures, 
that  they  can  only  live  and  move  and  sup- 
port themselves  by  obeying  the  laws  of  their 
respective  organizations.  Our  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther intended  that  you  should  stand  still,  or 
sit,  or  lie,  in  any  position  you  choose,  without 
feeling  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere  which 
surrounds  you ;  and  He  has  filled  the  spaces 
within  your  bodies  with  just  so  much  power 
of  resistance  to  this  outside  pressure,  so  that 
you  can  keep  yourself  steadily  in  any  position 
which  you  choose  to  assume. 

What   causes  the  piece   of  leather,  which 


36  A   FIFTH  DAY   IN 

you  call  your  sucker,  to  adhere  to  the  stone 
on  which  you  place  it  ? 

Charles,     The  weight  of  the  atmosphere. 

Mary,  Explain,  if  you  please,  the  whole 
matter  to  us. 

Charles.  I  asked  our  shoemaker  to  cut  for 
me  a  round  piece  of  leather,  rather  larger 
than  a  silver  dollar.  I  then  made  a  hole  in 
the  middle  of  it,  through  which  I  slipped  a 
piece  of  twine,  making  a  knot  in  the  end  of 
the  twine  to  prevent  it  from  slipping  back. 
I  then  wetted  the  leather  until  it  was  quite 
pliable,  and  would  adhere  closely  to  any  sur- 
face on  which  I  placed  it.  I  selected  a  smooth 
stone,  placed  the  leather  upon  it,  and  stamped 
my  foot  down  on  it ;  and  then  father,  and  old 


MARY  C ARROW'S  SCHOOL.  37 

Pete,  and  myself,  successively  tried  to  pull  it 
off  the  stone,  but  it  adhered  so  closely  that, 
when  we  attempted  to  raise  it,  we  lifted  the 
stone  and  all! 

Mary.     What  produced  this  effect  ? 

diaries.  The  weight  of  the  atmospheric 
air  upon  the  leather. 

Mary.  But  if  the  air  presses  equally  on 
every  part  of  the  surface  of  a  body,  why  did 
not  the  weight  of  the  air  on  the  under  part 
of  the  leather  force  it  up  ? 

Charles.  There  was  no  air  to  press  upon 
the  under  surface.  It  was  excluded  by  the 
adhesion  of  the  leather  to  the  stone;  and 
there  was  no  resistance  below  to  the  pressure 
above  it.     Hence,  it  retained  its  place. 

Mary  now  went  to  the  closet,  and  brought 


38  A   FIFTH   DAY   IN 

out  the  little  pot,  from  which  the  water  would 
not  run  freely  the  day  before,  at  the  tea-party. 
She  held  it  up,  and  asked  her  class  if  any  of 
them  could  tell  her  why  the  water  did  not 
run  freely  out  of  the  spout,  when  they  at- 
tempted to  pour  out  tea.  Each  of  the  scho- 
lars took  the  pot  and  examined  it,  but  no  one 
could  answer  the  question. 

Mary  then  filled  the  pot  with  water  and 
closed  it  with  the  lid.  Then  she  attempted 
to  pour  out  the  water  into  a  little  basin.  At 
first  it  ran  out  freely,  but  it  soon  flowed  only 
in  drops.  v 

"You  have  told  me,  Charles,"  said  Mary, 
"  that  the  air  has  weight.  Now  the  spout  of 
the  pot  is  filled  with  air,  and  when  I  pour 
out  the  water  at  first,  the  resistance  which 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  39 

the  water  meets  from  the  pressure  of  the  air 
in  the  spout  is  not  great  enough  to  prevent 
it  from  flowing  out ;  but  after  the  air  in  the 
spout  has  been  forced  out  by  the  water,  you 
perceive,  (do  you  not?)  that  the  water,  as  I  con- 
tinue to  pour  it,  meets  with  the  pressure  of 
the  whole  surrounding  atmosphere,  and  that 
is  too  great  to  allow  the  water  to  run  freely. 
How  is  this  ? 

Charles.  Oh,  I  see — I  know !  When  the 
lid  is  on  the  pot,  the  air  cannot  get  to  the 
surface  of  the  water  in  the  pot,  and  therefore 
there  is  no  pressure  there  to  act  against  the 
pressure  which  the  water  meets  as  it  flows 
from  the  spout. 

Mary.  Now  can  you  tell  me  what  we  shall 
do  to  have  the  water  run  freely  ? 


40  A   FIFTH    DAY   IN 

Charles.  Take  off  the  lid,  and  then  the 
weight  of  the  air  on  the  water  at  the  top  of 
the  pot  will  press  it  out  of  the  spout  as  you 
pour  it. 

Mary.  We  must  do  so  in  this  case  to  have 
the  water  run  freely ;  but  you  have  observed 
that  at  table  we  always  pour  out  tea  and  cof- 
fee with  the  lid  on  the  pot. 

Mary  then  took  an  iron  piercer  out  of  her 
desk,  and  she  made  a  small  hole  in  the  top  of 
the  pot  lid.  While  she  was  doing  it,  Susan 
Field  exclaimed,  "  I  have  found  it  out — I 
have  found  it  out!  There  ought  to  be  a  lit- 
tle hole  in  the  lids  of  coffee  and  tea-pots,  so 
that  the  air  can  get  through  the  little  hole, 
and  press  upon  the  surface  of  the  tea  and  cof- 
fee.    Then  the  pressure  upon  it  within  being 


MARY   CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  41 

equal  to  the  pressure  it  meets  without, 
whatever  liquid  is  in  the  pot  will  run  out 
freely.     Is  not  that  it,  Mary?" 

Mary.  Yes.  And  now  we  will  test  your 
discovery. 

Mary  then  filled  the  little  play  tea-pot  with 
water,  and  put  on  the  lid  with  the  hole  in 
the  top  of  it;  and  to  the  delight  of  all  the 
scholars,  who  had  crowded  round  the  basin, 
the  water  flowed  out  freely  and  beautifully, 
until  there  was  not  a  drop  left  in  the  pot. 

"Bravo!  little  Miss  Philosopher,"  said 
Charles  Linn.  "Let  us  crown  her!  Let  us 
crown  her !     She  is  the  conqueror  of  the  day." 

Mary%  I  am  very  well  satisfied  with  all 
my  little  philosophers  to-day;  but  we  have 
spent  so  much  time  over  this  lesson,  that  you 


42  A   FIFTH   DAY   IN 

must  leave  crowning  Susan  until  you  have  a 
recess.  Charles  may  do  the  honours  of  the 
occasion  by  making  a  speech,  if  he  likes. 

Charles  went  to  his  desk,  humming  by  the 
way  some  verses  which  his  father  had  read 
to  the  family  the  evening  before,  and  which 
he  had  desired  Charles  to  learn. 

We  are  travelers  on  a  plain 

Rich  with  treasures  sprinkled  o'er ; 

God  has  placed  us  here  to  gain 
All  that  lies  upon  its  floor. 

Every  truth  we  find  is  gold, 

Dropp'd  by  wise  men  gone  before; 

Fast  our  findings  let  us  hold, 
Daily  adding  more  and  more. 

Then  for  those  that  come  behind, 

We  can  leave  our  tiny  grain ; 
Thus,  for  every  good  we  find, 

Giving  something  back  again. 


MARY  C  Alt  row's  SCHOOL.  43 

As  the  generations  rise, 

Each  gains  something  from  the  past — 
Each  should  go  out,  as  it  dies, 

Wiser,  better  than  the  last. 

Mary  now  heard  the  lessons.  Definitions 
and  spelling  occupied  the  time  until  the  hour 
for  recess. 

"  Now  let  us  crown  our  Queen  of  the  Day," 
said  Charles ;  and  every  one  of  the  scholars 
set  out,  through  their  bounds,  to  gather  wild- 
flowers  and  pretty  green  leaves  to  make  a 
wreath  for  Susan.  Charles  said  they  must 
have  some  laurel,  and  he  went  off  to  gather 
it. 

Heated  and  weary  they  came  back  again, 
and  all  sat  down  together  on  the  grass,  bring- 
ing their  gatherings  to  Lucy  Linn,  who  had 


44  A  FIFTH  DAY  IN 

been  appointed  to  make  a  wreath  for  the 
queen. 

Lucy  twisted  and  untwisted,  and  arranged 
and  re-arranged,  until  she  had  formed  a  very 
beautiful  wreath.  She  had  ivy,  oak,  and  lau- 
rel leaves  twined  first  together,  as  a  frame- 
work, and  then  she  twisted  wild-flowers  in 
among  them.  The  little  children  were  ly- 
ing about  on  the  grass,  around  Lucy,  while 
she  was  at  work,  and  the  older  ones  made 
suggestions  to  her  as  she  proceeded.  When 
the  wreath  was  made, 

"Now,"  said  Charles,  "I  must  crown  the 
queen,  for  I  was  the  first  to  acknowledge  her 
discovery." 

Susan  looked  very  sweetly  when  she  was 
crowned.     She  had  waving  brown  hair  over  a 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  45 

fair  round  forehead,  and  soft  hazel  eyes. 
Charles  said  she  looked  every  inch  a  queen. 

"  Now  you  are  too  grand  to  play,  Susan," 
said  Eddy  Forester. 

"  Oh  no,  indeed  I  am  not,"  said  she.  "  One, 
two,  three,  and  away !"  and  away  ran  Susan, 
and  all  the  scholars  after  her,  and  a  merry 
chase  had  the  subjects  after  their  queen. 
When  they  caught  her,  Susan  said  she  would 
take  off  her  wreath,  and  keep  it  to  show  to 
Mary,  and  then  she  would  take  it  home  to 
show  to  her  grand-father  and  grand-mother. 

The  day  was  very  warm,  and  they  all  sat 
down  together,  to  rest,  near  a  fountain,  away 
off  at  the  lower  edge  of  the  wood.  The  spring 
had  been  walled  round  by  Alfred  Thompson's 
father;  and  in  order  that  the  villagers  might 


46  A  FIFTH  DAY  IN 

obtain  water  readily,  he  had  a  pipe  made  and 
carried  up  through  the  wall;  and  from  this 
pipe  the  beautiful,  clear  water  flowed  out  all 
day  long. 

While  they  were  there,  some  washerwomen 
came  to  get  water,  and  a  little  girl  who  was 
with  them  spied  the  school  children,  as  they 
sat  and  talked  and  laughed  under  a  shady 
tree. 

"Will  you  give  us  some  water?  we  are  so 
very  thirsty,"  said  they  to  the  little  girl. 

"Are  you  Mary  Carrow's  scholars?"  asked 
the  women. 

"Yes,"  said  Charles  Linn,  rising  up  and 
coming  forward. 

"Then,"  replied  they,  "you  shall  have  as 
much  water  from  our  cup  as  you  like,  because 


jHfti)    Bag 


MJ 


Women  at  the  fountain.— p.  46. 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  47 

you  have  a  very  good  name  in  the  neighbour- 
hood." 

While  they  were  drinking,  they  heard 
Mary's  voice,  and  presently  she  appeared 
among  them.  She  thanked  the  little  girl, 
and  said  some  kind  words  to  the  washerwo- 
men, and  then  hastened  the  scholars  back 
into  school. 

Mary,  Do  you  know  how  fast  the  morning 
is  running  away?  We  have  yet  one  lesson  to 
say,  and  then,  Eddy  and  Lily  want  to  know 
something  about  bees. 

Mary  looked  at  Susan's  wreath  as  they 
walked  back  to  school,  and  put  it  on  her 
own  head  to  see  how  she  looked  in  it.  Then 
she  told  her  to  keep  it  as  a  good  mark  gained 
at  school;  for  that  would  be  a  pleasant  remem- 


48  A  FIFTH   DAY  IN 

brance,  when  the  sweet  flowers  and  pretty 
leaves  of  which  it  was  made  should  have 
withered  away. 

Mary's  scholars  were  earnest  and  bright  this 
morning,  and  were  soon  ready  for  the  reading. 

"Now  for  the  bees!"  said  Eddy  Forester. 

Mary.  Eddy,  what  did  you  wish  to  ask 
about  them? 

Eddy.  I  should  like  to  know  what  they 
do  when  they  travel  about  in  their  hive  ? 

Mary.  When  you  see  them  hurrying  up 
and  down  in  their  hive,  they  are  at  work. 
Some  of  them  are  carrying  wax  to  the  place 
where  other  bees  are  building  cells,  and  these 
cells,  you  know,  form  the  comb.  Some  of 
them  are  loaded  with  farina,  which,  you  know, 
they  gather  from  the  flowers ;  and  with  this 


MARY   CARROW's  SCHOOL.  49 

farina  they  feed  the  young  bees.  Each  one 
does  his  own  work,  without  interfering  with 
the  others;  and  though  you  sometimes  see 
only  an  apparently  confused  crowding  of  bees 
together,  in  their  hives,  yet  they  are  all  busy 
at  their  appointed  work. 

There  are  three  classes  of  bees  in  every 
hive.  First,  there  is  the  queen-bee,  who  is 
mother  and  ruler  of  the  whole  community. 
Then  there  are  the  drones;  and  there  are 
the  working-bees,  who  build  the  cells  and 
make  the  honey.  The  working-bees  are  di- 
vided into  two  classes — the  wax- workers  and 
the  nursing-bees.  It  is  the  especial  business 
of  the  latter  to  take  care  of  the  young,  but 
they  also  make  wax  and  assist  in  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  hive. 

4 


50  A   FIFTH    DAY  IN 

When  you  saw  so  many  bees  passing  to 
and  fro  in  the  hive,  they  were  engaged  in  do- 
ing their  own  special  business.  Some  of 
these  which  you  saw  were  carrying  wax  to 
the  little  architects  who  were  laying  the 
foundations  of  a  new  comb;  and  as  soon  as 
they  reached  the  spot,  these  would  come  for- 
ward to  meet  them,  and  relieve  them  of  their 
burdens;  then  they  would  immediately  leave 
the  hive,  to  procure  more  materials  for  build- 
ing, and  when  they  returned  with  another 
load,  it  would  again  be  taken  from  them  by 
the  bees  who  were  at  home  in  the  hive,  and 
applied  to  the  same  purpose — forming  or  fin- 
ishing cells.  Some  of  those  which  you  saw 
were  probably  nursing-bees,  carrying  food  to 
the  cells,  where  the  young  bees  were  in  the 


MARY   CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  51 

first  stage  of  their  existence.  Some  of  these 
might  have  been  wax-workers,  taking  the 
wax  which  they  had  made  to  the  cells  which 
were  already  filled  with  honey,  in  order  to 
spread  a  very  thin  layer  of  it  over  each  cell, 
to  prevent  the  honey  from  wasting  by  run- 
ning out.  x 

Lacy  Linn.  Do  the  bees  make  the  pretty 
combs  which  hold  the  honey  ? 

Mai-y.  Yes.  That  is  the  first  work  of  a 
new  swarm  after  it  has  taken  possession  of 
the  hive. 

Eddy.  How  did  they  learn  to  make  such 
pretty  combs  ?     Look,  here  is  a  print  of  one. 

Mary.  God  gave  them  instincts,  by  which 
they  learn  to  provide  for  themselves.  He 
has  implanted  in  every  creature  which  he  has 


52  A  FIFTH   DAY   IN 


created,  an  instinct,  which  guides  it  first  to 
gather  such  materials  as  it  needs  for  the  con- 
struction of  its  habitation,  and  afterward  to 
make  use  of  the  materials  which  it  has  col- 
lected, in  building  its  habitation. 

"He  has  implanted  in  every  creature  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation,  and  he  has  en- 
dowed even  the  most  insignificant  insect,  as 
well  as  the  noblest  animals,  with  intelligence 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  53 

sufficient  to  provide  for  its  own  wants."  He 
has  fashioned  every  creature  with  organs 
adapted  to  accomplish  this  end;  and  the 
more  you  know  of  insect  history,  the  better 
you  will  be  able  to  comprehend  something  of 
the  wisdom  and  beneficence  of  our  Heavenly 
Father,  who  has  made  nothing  in  vain. 

Susan.  Here  is  a  cluster  of  bees  hanging 
together,  as  I  have  often  seen  them  hanging 
at  the  door  of  a  hive.  What  does  it  mean, 
Mary? 

Mary.  They  are  manufacturing  wax, 
while  in  that  position.  It  is  always  their 
preliminary  measure,  when  they  are  about 
to  begin  building  their  cells. 

Eddy.     "What  is  wax  made  of? 

Mary.     Honey.     When  the  bees  are  gorged 


54  A   FIFTH   DAY   IN 

with  honey,  they  hang  together  in  this  way, 
in  order  to  make  their  honey  into  wax.  As 
soon  as  they  have  made  enough  to  build  cells 
with,  they  begin. 

One  bee,  (called  by  naturalists  the  foun- 
der-bee,) attaches  itself  to  the  roof  of  the  hive, 
in  order  to  lay  the  foundation-wall  for  a  row 
of  cells.  While  in  this  position,  it  affixes  to 
the  roof  a  shapeless  little  mound  of  wax ;  it 
smooths  and  works  at  its  deposite  until  it  is 
weary,  when  another  bee  comes  and  takes  its 
place,  and  works  in  the  same  way  until  it 
also  is  tired.  A  number  of  bees  in  succession 
come  after  these,  each  one  bringing  its  deposite 
of  wax,  which  it  adds  to  the  general  mass ; 
and  they  soon  have  an  irregular  line  of  wax 
hanging  down  from  the  roof  of  the  hive,  about 


MARY    CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  55 

two-thirds  of  an  inch  in  length.  This  is  the 
foundation-wall  of  their  pretty  house  of  honey- 
combs. 

You  will  observe  that  I  have  told  you 
this  wall  of  wax.  which  depends  from  the  roof 
of  the  hive,  is  of  an  irregular  thickness.  When 
it  is  completed,  another  set  of  bees  begin  to 
lay  the  foundations  of  the  cells,  by  commen- 
cing a  hollowing  process  at  those  parts  of  the 
wall  where  it  is  thickest.  The  first  bee  who 
comes  to  the  work  takes  out  of  the  wall  with 
its  teeth  as  much  wax  as  is  equal  to  the  di- 
ameter of  a  cell ;  and  after  kneading  the  par- 
ticles with  its  mandibles,  and  moistening  them 
with  its  tongue,  deposits  it  on  the  edge  of 
the  excavation  which  it  has  made  in  the  wall. 
When  this  insect  has  laboured  for  some  se- 


56  A    FIFTH    DAY    IN 

conds,  it  goes  away,  and  another  takes  its 
place,  working  in  the  same  way.  So  soon  as 
one  bee  succeeds  another  in  the  work,  a  num- 
ber of  excavations  in  the  wall  are  made, 
which  are  the  rudiments  of  cells.  While 
these  are  being  made,  another  set  of  founder- 
bees  build  a  second  wall,  which  they  bring 
down  in  a  parallel  line  to  the  first,  and  near 
enough  to  it  to  admit  of  only  a  passage  for 
the  bees  who  are  making  the  cells  on  either 
side  of  the  wall. 

Two  sets  of  bees  are  always  at  work  in 
constructing  the  comb;  those  who  build  the 
walls,  and  those  who  excavate  the  cells; 
and  there  is  also  another  set  of  bees,  who 
polish  and  finish  the  cells,  after  they  are 
formed. 


MARY    CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  57 

Liicy.     How  do  they  proceed  after  their 
house  is  built?    > 

Mary.     You  will   observe  that,  in   corn 
quence  of  the  mode  of  building  among  bees 
new  walls  and  the  rudiments  of  cells  are  be 
ing  constructed  in  one  part  of  the  hive,  while 
in  another,  the  work  is  in  a  complete  state 
As  soon  as  some  of  the  cells  are  completed 
the  queen-bee  begins  to  deposit  eggs  in  them 
and  these  are  called  brood-cells.     Very  soon 
after  the  eggs  are  laid,  the  embryo  insect  re- 
quires feeding,  which  work  is  performed  by 
the   nurse-bees.     This  creates  a   division  of 
labour,  you  see,  and  of  course  there  are  fewer 
builders  to  carry  on  the  construction  of  combs. 
The  nurse-bees  always  assist  in  building,  when 
they  have  no  young  to  take  care  of.     Another 


58  A    FIFTH   DAY   IN 

set  of  cells  is  appropriated  for  the  honey,  and 
it  is  the  business  of  some  of  the  bees  to  store 
up  winter  provisions,  by  filling  them  with 
this  delicious  fare.  Here  we  come  in  for  a 
share  of  their  labour,  for  you  know  we  take 
all  the  honey  which  they  do  not  need  for 
themselves  and  their  families. 

Mike  Terry.  Where  do  the  bees  get  the 
food  for  their  young  ? 

Mary.  They  gather  it  from  the  flowers. 
It  was  formerly  supposed  that  the  young  bee 
was  fed  with  honey,  but  Huber  and  other  late 
naturalists  have  discovered  that  they  are  fed 
on  farina. 

There  are  many  very  interesting  facts  in 
connection  with  the  swarming  of  bees,  which 
are  worthy  of  attention. 


MARY    CARROW'S   SCHOOL.  59 

"When  the  number  of  bees  becomes  too 
great  for  one  family,  there  is  a  wise  provision 
made  for  their  division  into  separate  tribes. 
These  tribes  are  called  swarms,  and  when  a 
swarm  leaves  the  hive,  with  a  queen  at  its 
head,  they  seek  a  new  home,  and  begin  to 
build,  in  the  manner  which  I  have  described 
to  you. 

Charles.  Would  they  not  go  without  a 
queen? 

Mary.     No. 

Lucy.  How  do  queens  differ  from  common 
bees? 

Mary.  They  are  larger  and  handsomer, 
and  their  position  is  different  from  that  of 
any  other  bee,  inasmuch  as  they  receive  the 
homage  of  all  the  bees  in  the  hive. 


60  A  FIFTH  DAY  IN 

Clwrles.  But  if  there  is  but  one  queen  in 
each  hive,  how  are  others  obtained  when 
the  swarming  takes  place  ? 

Mary.  I  was  about  to  explain  this  to  you, 
when  one  of  you  asked  a  question  about  some- 
thing else. 

In  the  construction  of  the  cells  which 
form  the  comb,  there  are  three  different 
sorts — the  brood-cells,  which  are  for  the  com- 
mon eggs — the  honey  cells,  for  honey,  and 
the  royal  cells,  for  the  eggs  which  are  to 
produce  queens.  These  royal  cells  are  always 
made  larger,  and  with  more  care,  and  with 
a  greater  expenditure  of  wax  and  labour,  than 
any  of  the  other  cells.  There  are  usually 
three  or  four,  but  sometimes  as  many  as  ten 
or  twelve  in  one  hive. 


MARY  CARROW's   SCHOOL.  61 

About  the  time  that  a  royal  princess  comes 
forth  from  her  cell,  the  old  queen  usually 
leads  off  a  part  of  the  family,  to  seek  with 
them  a  new  home,  leaving  her  successor  to 
govern  and  receive  the  honours  of  royalty. 
This  is  called  swarming.  The  queens  seem 
to  have  an  instinctive  hatred  of  each  other, 
and  when  more  than  one  princess  emerges  at 
the  same  time  from  their  respective  cells,  they 
attack,  and  would  destroy  one  another,  if  they 
were  not  prevented  by  the  workers. 

Some  naturalists  are  of  the  opinion  that 
the  bees  send  out  scouts,  prior  to  swarming, 
to  select  for  them  a  new  home;  and  if  there 
are  no  empty  hives  near  at  hand,  they  will 
begin  to  form  their  combs  in  the  hollow  trunks 
of  trees.     Owners  of  bees,  however,  usually 


62  A  FIFTH   DAT  IN 

watch  them,  and  have  empty  hives  ready  for 
the  new  swarms. 

So  wonderful  and  interesting  are  the  lit- 
tle creatures,  in  all  their  habits,  and  so  mar- 
vellously is  the  wisdom  of  our  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther displayed  in  their  instincts,  that  we 
might  spend  weeks  in  pursuing  their  history, 
and  yet  not  become  acquainted  with  all  that 
naturalists  have  discovered  about  them.  I 
scarcely  know  how  to  quit  the  subject;  but  it 
is  already  past  the  hour  at  which  we  usually 
close  school,  and  I  am  afraid  the  fathers  and 
mothers  of  my  little  scholars  are  wondering 
why  I  keep  them  so  long,  this  morning. 

"  Will  you  not  tell  us  all  about  it  at  some 
other  time,  Mary  ?"  asked  the  scholars,  al- 
most all  at  once. 


MARY   C ARROW'S   SCHOOL.  63 

Mary  told  them  she  would.  "  And  now," 
said  she,  u  we  must  put  away  books  and  slates, 
and  go  home  to  our  dinners.  Talking  so 
long  to  you,  makes  me  feel  very  hungry,  I 
assure  you." 

When  Mary's  scholars  came  to  school  in 
the  afternoon,  they  scampered  away,  one  by 
one,  down  to  the  tool-house,  with  the  rakes 
and  little  pitch-forks  which  they  had  brought 
for  the  harvesting  at  neighbour  Linn's. 
They  were  all  neatly  dressed,  to  stay  to  tea. 
Poor  little  Mike  Terry  had  never  been  out 
to  tea  in  his  life  before,  and  he  was  so  pleased 
to  be  invited,  that  he  could  talk  and  think  of 
nothing  else. 

Lucy  Linn  was  whispering  round  that  they 
were  to  have  a  table  spread  out  on  the  lawn, 


64  A  FIFTH  DAY   IN 

and  she  told  Mike  he  should  sit  next  to  her, 
and  she  would  give  him  cakes  and  sweetmeats, 
and  as  many  nice  things  as  he  wanted  to  eat. 

"And  will  you  give  me  some  of  the  good 
things  to  take  home  to  mother,  Lucy  ?" 

Lucy.  Yes.  You  shall  have  the  little 
basket  that  Charley  and  I  bring  our  dinners  in 
to  school,  on  rainy  days,  and  I  will  fill  it  full 
of  good  things  for  your  mother,  and  you  shall 
carry  them  home  to  her. 

Mike.  What  a  nice  girl  you  are,  Lucy !  I 
love  you  dearly  for  that. 

While  Mike  and  Lucy  were  talking,  the 
little  bell  rang  for  school. 

Mary  told  them  she  should  give  them  a 
short  session,  so  that  they  could  have  plenty 
of  time  for  the  hay-making. 


MARY   C ARROW'S   SCHOOL.  65 

"  Now  what  have  we  to  do  ?"  Charles. 

"Sewing  for  the  girls,  geography  for  us, 
and  tables  and  slates  for  these  youngsters. 
Then  Bible-reading,  and  then  hay-making." 

Ellen  Roby.  Mary,  will  you  read  to  us 
something  pretty,  while  we  are  sewing  ?  See, 
my  hemming  is  all  fitted,  and  Lily's  work  is 
a  little  patch,  and  we  could  listen  without  in- 
terrupting you  at  all. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary.  "  My  little  girls  and 
boys  have  been  such  good  children  to-day, 
that  they  deserve  to  be  indulged  with  the 
reading  of  a  pretty  story.  It  shall  be  a  true 
story — one  which  a  preacher  related  to  my 
mother,  during  her  life,  and  which  she  wrote 
down  and  preserved  among  her  papers. 

Mary  then  took  out  of  her  pocket-book  a 

5 


66  A   FIFTH    DAY    IN 

paper,  carefully  folded  and  enveloped,  which 
was  filled  with  her  mother's  hand-writing. 
It  was  very  precious  to  Mary,  and  she  did 
not  allow  any  one  to  handle  it  but  herself, 
lest  it  should  be  soiled  or  worn  out. 

THE  PREACHER'S  STORY. 

In  one  of  my  annual  rounds  among  the 
poor  of  a  bleak  district  in  the  west  of  Scot- 
land, after  a  day  of  weary  travel,  I  came  at 
nightfall  to  the  little  cottage  of  John  Wilson. 

I  had  frequently  halted  there  before, 
when  out  on  similar  errands,  and,  as  often  as 
I  had  done  so,  I  was  reminded  of  Burns'  faith- 
ful pictures  of  the  cotter's  home. 

It  was  Saturday  night.     I  met  John  just 


jfittlj   Bag 


Whenever  she  went  out,  she  carried  the  baby  in  her 
arms,  and  James  went  before  as  a  guide. — p.  67. 


MARY   CARROW'S    SCHOOL.  67 


coming  in  from  work,   and  we  entered  his 
home  together. 


"His  wee  bit  ingle*  blinkm'  bonnily, 

His  clean  hearth-stane,  his  thrifty  wine's  smile, 

The  lisping  infant  prattling  on  his  knee, 
Does  a'  his  weary,  carking  cares  beguile, 

And  makes  him  quite  forget  his  labour  an'  his  toil." 

In  a  snug  corner  of  the  fireplace  sat  a 
stranger — a  woman  with  a  baby  in  her  lap; 
and  on  the  floor  beside  her,  lay  a  little  boy 
asleep.  I  soon  found  that  it  was  blind  Amy 
Duncan,  the  widow  of  an  honest  fisherman 
who  had  been  lost  in  a  storm  a  few  weeks 
before. 

I  had  often  heard  of  little  Jamie  Duncan, 

*  Fire. 


68  A   FIFTH    DAY    IN 

her  son.  He  was  a  good,  bright  boy,  and  as 
he  could  not  be  spared  to  go  regularly  to 
school,  he  had  been  instructed  at  the  manse, 
by  the  minister.  His  mother  had  learned, 
blind  as  she  was,  to  knit,  and  to  prepare 
thread  and  yarn  for  the  weavers;  and  now 
that  her  husband  was  dead,  this  occupation 
was  all  that  she  had  to  depend  on  for  sup- 
port. Little  Jamie  had  been  his  mother's 
guide  all  along  the  shore  among  the  cottages 
of  the  fishermen.  He  would  lead  her  by  the 
hand,  a  few  times,  to  any  new  place  where 
she  wanted  to  go,  and  after  that  he  would 
run  on  before  her,  and  she  would  follow,  by 
listening  to  the  sound  of  his  footsteps.  He 
brought  her  the  wool  and  flax  which  she 


MAKY    C ARROW'S    SCHOOL.  69 

used,  and  when  it  was  ready  for  the  weavers 
he  would  carry  it  to  them. 

He  had  but  little  time  for  his  book,  for 
while  his  mother  was  at  work,  he  had  to  mind 
the  baby  for  her ;  and  whenever  she  went  out, 
she  carried  the  baby  in  her  arms,  and  Jamie 
went  before  as  a  guide. 

Jamie  used  to  think  a  great  deal  about 
what  the  minister  taught  him,  and  he  learned 
his  spelling  and  Scripture  lessons  by  saying 
them  over  aloud,  as  he  led  his  mother  about. 
When  the  poor,  blind  widow  was  left  without 
a  home,  John  Wilson  made  a  place  for  her 
and  her  little  ones  at  his  hearth,  though  he 
was  a  poor  man  himself  and  had  to  work 
hard  for  his  bread. 

I  left  the  cottage  early  the  next  day,  to 


70  A   FIFTH  DAY    IN 

fulfil  an  engagement  in  a  distant  part  of  the 
country,  and,  for  a  long  time  after,  I  heard 
nothing  of  John  Wilson's  family,  nor  of  the 
blind  widow. 

The  next  season,  in  the  course  of  my  rounds, 
I  purposed  visiting  them  again;  and  just  after 
I  had  entered  upon  the  wide  moor  which  lay 
between  my  road  and  the  cotter's,  I  met  little 
Jamie  Duncan,  with  a  stick  over  his  shoulder, 
hung  with  the  weaver's  thread,  and  his  mo- 
ther and  the  baby  following  on  close  behind. 
I  drew  near,  unperceived  by  them,  for  Jamie's 
face  was  turned  toward  his  mother,  and  she, 
being  blind,  could  not  see  me.  She  appeared 
to  be  weeping,  and  little  Jamie  was  saying  to 
her — 

"  Don't  cry  mother,  for  you  know  that  we 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  71 

have  a  Father  in  heaven,  and  if  we  mind 
what  He  says  to  us,  He  will  take  care  of  us. 
You  know  when  our  father  died,  you  said 
you  couldn't  tell  what  was  to  become  of  you 
and  me  and  the  baby.  So  I  went  out  under 
the  fir-tree  and  said  a  little  prayer  to  our 
heavenly  Father.  I  told  Him  you  were  blind, 
and  asked  Him  to  help  you  and  to  take  care 
of  us  all." 

"Who  put  that  into  your  head,  child?"  said 
Jamie's  mother. 

Jamie.  Nobody.  I  learned  it  out  of  the 
Bible.  The  Bible  says,  "Ask,  and  ye  shall 
receive ;"  and  our  minister  told  me  that  every 
word  in  the  Bible  was  true,  and  that  we  must 
try  to  obey  all  our  Saviour's  commands,  and 
then  we  would  believe  all  His  promises. 


72  A    FIFTH    DAY    IN 

"  What  else  does  the  Bible  say  ?"  Jamie. 

"  It  says,  c  Trust  in  the  Lord  ;'  and  it  says 
*God  is  a  husband  of  the  widow  and  a  father 
of  the  fatherless/  Dear  mother,  I  am  sure  if 
we  ask  our  Heavenly  Father,  He  will  find  a 
place  for  us  to  go  to." 

"I  cannot  see  him,  child.    I  am  blind!" 

Jamie.  I  cannot  see  him  either,  mother: 
nobody  can  see  him;  but  sometimes,  when 
I  am  all  alone,  I  feel  as  if  some  good  being, 
that  I  could  not  see,  is  walking  along  by  me, 
just  as  you  are  now ;  and  then  I  can  pray, 
and  sing  little  hymns,  and  I  feel  so  happy, 
that  if  I  am  ever  so  hungry  and  tired,  I  don't 
mind  it.  I  think,  mother,  that  when  we  feel 
so,  our  Heavenly  Father's  good  Spirit  is  with 


MARY  CARROW's  SCHOOL.  73 

us;  and  our  minister  says,  nothing  can  harm 
us  then. 

I  now  advanced  toward  them,  and  ques- 
tioned them  about  the  Wilsons.  I  found  that 
death  had  been  in  the  house.  The  father 
and  mother  were  both  laid  in  the  burying- 
ground  of  the  little  church.  Elsie,  the  oldest 
daughter,  was  married,  and  had  taken  the 
younger  children  to  her  new  home;  and  the 
family  circle  of  the  Wilsons  was  broken  up, 
and  there  was  no  longer  a  place  by  the  fire- 
side for  the  poor  blind  widow. 

It  seemed  clearly  my  duty  to  take  them 
into  my  own  home  for  the  present,  which  I  did. 
The  widow  did  not  live  very  long,  but  the 
baby  and  little  Jamie  are  still  with  me;  and 
I  thank  God  for  the  blessing  he  has  given  to 


74  A   FIFTH   DAY    IN 

my  household  in  that  sweet  child  of  faith- 
Jamie  Duncan. 


Mary  now  heard  the  geography  class,  ar- 
ranged and  fitted  the  sewing-work,  attended 
to  "  tables"  and  sums,  and  then  took  the  Bible 
to  select  a  portion  for  the  reading. 

"Where  shall  we  read?  and  what  shall 
we  read  about?"  said  she. 

"Under  the  oak!  Under  the  oak !"  exclaim- 
ed the  scholars,  all  at  once.  And  there,  once 
more,  teacher  and  flock  gathered  together, 
finding  in  its  shade,  a  most  agreeable  retreat 
from  the  heat  of  the  schoolroom. 

"Mary,"  said  Eddy  Forester,  "I  have  been 
wanting  all  day  to  get  a  chance  to  ask  you  a 
question.     Will  you  answer  it  now,  before 


MARY   CARROWS    SCHOOL.  iO 

we  begin  to  read?  Will  you  tell  me  why  the 
Thompsons  are  so  much  richer  than  my  mo- 
ther, and  why  Lily  and  I  cannot  have  little 
ponies  to  ride,  as  Willy  and  Alfred  Thomp- 
son have?" 

Mary.  I  cannot  answer  your  question,  my 
dear  little  boy.  Why  some  are  rich  and  pros- 
perous, and  why  some,  equally  deserving,  are 
poor  and  unprosperous,  are  questions  which 
have  puzzled  the  wise  of  all  ages.  But  this 
I  can  tell  you,  that  God,  who  knows  all 
things,  and  who  knows  what  is  best  for  every 
one  of  us,  permits  an  unequal  distribution  of 
such  things  among  his  children.  Wealth  for 
some  and  poverty  for  others,  and  a  condition 
between  poverty  and  wealth  for  many,  is  of 
God's  permission;  and,  therefore,  this  differ- 


76  A   FIFTH   DAY   IN 

ence  of  condition  must  be  good  for  us.  If  it 
were  not  so,  He  would  find  some  way  to  change 
it.  You  remember,  we  were  reading  the  other 
day,  in  the  Bible,  about  Abraham.  Abraham 
was  very  rich ;  he  had  lands  and  cattle  in 
abundance.  God  loved  Abraham,  and  he 
blessed  him  and  made  him  rich.  But  God 
had  other  servants,  whom  we  read  of  in  the 
Bible,  whom  it  pleased  Him,  for  some  wise 
purpose  of  his  own,  to  make  poor. 

The  apostle  Peter  was  a  poor  fisherman. 
The  apostle  Paul  was  a  poor  tent-maker. 
And  so  it  is  at  this  day.  Some  of  the  Lord's 
most  faithful  servants  are  rich  men,  and 
some,  whose  lives  are  equally  acceptable  to 
Him,  are  very  poor — have  to  work  for  their 
daily  bread,  as  the  apostles  did.   y 


MARY    CARROW's    SCHOOL.  77 

Charles  Linn.  But,  Mary,  you  told  us  once, 
that  our  Heavenly  Father's  children  were 
equally  the  objects  of  his  care  and  love.  How 
is  it,  then,  that  poor  people  have  to  work  so 
hard,  while  the  rich  have  nothing  to  do? 

Mary.  It  is  not  really  so,  that  the  poor 
only  work,  and  that  the  rich  do  nothing. 
Rich  people  work  just  as  hard  as  poor  people 
do. 

Eddy.  How  can  that  be?  Do  Alfred  and 
Willy  Thompson  work  as  hard  as  I  do?  and 
does  their  mother  work  as  much  as  my  mo- 
ther? 

Mary.  Yes.  Your  work  and  their  work 
are  not  alike,  but  it  is,  I  should  think,  about 
equal.  Our  Heavenly  Father  placed  us  here 
to  do  different  kinds  of  work  in  his  harvest- 


78  MARY   C ARROW'S    SCHOOL. 

field,  which  is  the  world.  The  rich  mans 
work  and  the  poor  man's  work  can  never  be 
the  same;  if  it  were  so,  then  the  ends  for 
which  we  were  placed  here  would  not  be 
gained. 

You  are  too  young  to  understand  this  sub- 
ject now  so  well  as  I  hope  you  will  when 
you  are  older;  but  I  will  select  for  our  read- 
ing some  portions  of  Scripture  which,  I  think, 
will  enlighten  you. 

You  remember  that  I  read  to  you,  on  a  for- 
mer occasion,  the  history  of  Adam  and  Eve — 
of  their  disobedience — for  which  God  sent 
them  out  of  the  garden  of  Eden;  and  you 
will  remember  also,  that  I  read  to  you  the 
sentence  which  He  passed  upon  Adam,  and 
that  I   told   you  that  sentence  was   passed 


A    FIFTH    DAY    IN  79 

upon  all  of  Adam's  race  who  should  be  born 
after  him.  This  is  the  sentence:  "In  the 
sweat  of  thy  face  shall  thou  eat  bread,  until 
thou  return  unto  the  ground."*  Many,  many 
years  after  these  words  were  spoken  to  Adam, 
we  find  the  same  sentence  in  full  force  upon 
Adam's  descendants.  David  mentions  it  in 
the  Psalms :  "  Man  goeth  forth  unto  his  work, 
and  to  his  labour  until  the  evening."f  "  For 
thou  shalt  eat  the  labour  of  thine  hands."J 

I  will  now  read  to  you  what  is  said 
about  labour.  "All  things  are  full  of  la- 
bour."§  "The  thing  that  hath  been,  it  is 
that  which  shall  be,  and  that  which  is  done, 
is  that  which  shall  be  done.     It  hath  been 

*  Gen.  iii.  19.  f  Ps.  civ.  23. 

I  Ps.  cxxviii.  2.  §  Eccl.  i.  8 


80  MARY    CARROW'S    SCHOOL. 

already  of  old  time  which  was  before  us/'* 
These  passages  of  Holy  Writ  will  show  you 
that  God's  command  to  labour  has  been  obey- 
ed by  millions  of  people  who  have  lived  be- 
fore us,  and  that  it  must  be  obeyed  over  and 
over  again  by  every  succeeding  generation. 

I  will  now  read  to  you  another  scriptural 
command  to  labour;  and  you  must  remember 
that  all  the  commands  of  God,  as  recorded  in 
the  Bible,  are  to  be  obeyed:  "In  the  morn- 
ing sow  thy  seed,  and  in  the  evening  with- 
hold not  thine  hand,  for  thou  knowest  not  whe- 
ther shall  prosper,  either  this  or  that,  or  whe- 
ther they  both  shall  be  alike  good."f  Now 
hear  the  blessings  which  are  promised  to  the 
labourer:  "The  sleep  of  a  labouring  man  is 

*  Eccl.  i.  9,  10.  f  Eccl.  xi.  6. 


A    FIFTH    DAY    IN  81 

sweet."  "It  is  good  and  comely  for  one  to 
eat  and  to  drink,  and  to  enjoy  the  good  of 
all  his  labour  that  he  taketh  under  the  sun 
all  the  days  of  his  life,  which  God  giveth  him : 
for  it  is  his  portion."  "  Every  man  also  to 
whom  God  hath  given  riches  and  wealth,  and 
hath  given  him  power  to  eat  thereof,  and  to 
take  his  portion,  and  to  rejoice  in  his  labour, 
this  is  the  gift  of  God."* 

Our  Heavenly  Father  has  not  only  com- 
manded us  to  labour,  but,  because  He  loves 
us  and  knows  what  is  best  for  us,  He  has  so 
ordered  our  life  that  we  find  our  happiness 
in  it. 

You  will  now  see,  by  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
that  labour  is  the  condition  of  our  being,  that 

*  Eccl.  v.  12,  18,  19. 
6 


82  A   FIFTH    DAY   IN 

God  commands  us  to  labour — that  He  makes 
no  distinctions  in  giving  the  command  to  the 
race  of  Adam.  It  is  for  all;  for  rich  and 
poor — for  high  and  low — for  great  and  small. 
None  can  escape  from  it,  and  do  their  duty. 
Whoever  does  escape  from  it  and  lives  in  idle- 
ness, disobeys  God,  and  will  be  punished  for 
disobeying  him.  Idleness  is  sin ;  and  we  can- 
not commit  any  sin,  you  know,  without  dis- 
obeying and  displeasing  our  Heavenly  Father. 

Charles  Linn's  merry  face  was  full  of  seri- 
ous though  tfuln  ess  while  Mary  was  speaking, 
and  her  younger  scholars  were  listening  atten- 
tively to  every  word  she  said. 

"You  understand  now,"  continued  Mary, 
"that  human  beings  come  into  the  world  to 


MARY  CARROW'S  SCHOOL.  83 

work — not  to  live  in  idleness ;  and  that  our 
Heavenly  Father  plants  us  in  different  parts 
of  the  world,  and  in  different  positions,  in 
order  that  we  may  be  near  the  duties  and 
occupations  which  He  has  appointed  for  us. 
.  One  little  boy  finds  himself  born  in  a  great 
house,  where  there  are  many  servants,  and 
handsome  grounds,  and  horses  to  ride,  as  at 
our  neighbour  Thompson's.  Another  little 
boy  finds  himself  in  a  snug  cottage,  with  only 
his  mother  and  a  dear  little  sister.  And  both 
these  boys  must  work,  though  their  work  will 
be  different,  as  it  ought  to  be.  When  they 
are  old  enough  to  be  useful,  the  little  cottager, 
if  he  is  a  good  boy,  will  assist  his  mother  in 
taking  care  of  the  chickens  and  pigs,  in  ga- 
thering eggs,  picking  cherries,  and  in  doing 


84  A   FIFTH    DAY    IN 

any  little  services  about  the  house  for  which 
his  strength  is  sufficient.  The  child  in  the 
great  house,  if  he  is  a  good  boy,  will  try  to 
repay  the  servants  for  their  care  of  him,  by 
teaching  them,  when  they  have  time,  to  read 
in  the  Bible,  if  they  do  not  know  how,  and 
entertaining  them  sometimes  from  other  books. 
Some  of  them  may  be  old  and  sickly,  and  the 
rich  little  boy  can  take  some  of  his  money 
and  buy  them  warmer  clothing  than  they 
can  afford  to  buy  for  themselves.  And  when 
they  are  weary  of  waiting  and  running  to  do 
this  and  that,  the  rich  little  boy  can  say  to 
himself — "John  has  been  out  in  the  rain,  or 
cold,  all  day,  and  I  will  light  the  fire  in  my 
own  room  myself.  I  think  I  know  very  well 
how  to  do  it,  for  I  have  often  looked  at  John 


MARY  C ARROW'S  SCHOOL.  85 

while  he  made  the  fires."  Or,  if  Sally,  the  cham- 
ber-maid, is  busy,  he  can  quickly  take  his 
pitcher  and  fill  it  with  fresh  water,  without 
calling  upon  her  to  do  it.  This  will  be  the 
work  of  the  rich  little  boy,  just  as  helping  his 
mother  is  the  work  of  the  poor  little  boy ;  and 
our  Heavenly  Father  will  look  with  approving 
eye  on  both,  because  both  are  obeying  His 
command — to  labour. 

Little  boys  and  girls  who  are  so  happy  as 
to  be  sent  to  school,  have  another  sort  of  work 
to  do,  in  which  the  rich  and  poor  fare  alike, 
They  must  be  diligent,  obedient,  industrious, 
and  try  to  understand  all  that  they  are  learn- 
ing. This  is  their  school-work;  and  pretty 
hard  it  is  sometimes.     Do  you  not  think  so  ? 

"  No !"  said  Mary's  scholars  all  at  once. 


86  A    FIFTH  DAY  IN 

"  It  is  not  hard  at  all,  at  our  school.  It  is  al- 
together pleasant." 

Mary.  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  so.  But 
let  me  tell  you,  it  is  because  you  observe  my 
rules  and  attend  to  my  instructions,  and  do 
as  I  bid  you,  that  you  find  it  so  pleasant. 
Your  dutiful  and  agreeable  behaviour  to  me, 
beautifully  illustrates  God's  law  of  labour; 
for  you  find  your  happiness  in  it,  do  you 
not? 

"Yes!  that  we  do,"  said  Eddy  Forester. 
"  If  we  were  idle  and  bad,  we  should  be  very 
unhappy,  I  am  sure." 

Mary.  And  just  so  it  is,  if  we  obey  God's 
law  of  labour.  We  find  our  happiness  in  our 
obedience  to  it.  He  is  so  merciful  and  loving, 
that  He  lays  no  command  upon  us  and  holds 


MARY   CARROW'S   SCHOOL.  87 

no  law  over  us  which  we  cannot  convert  into 
a  blessing  by  cheerful  obedience  to  it. 

Charles  Linn.  We  understand  now,  that 
the  lots  of  poor  and  rich  children  are  not  so 
unequal  as  we  had  thought  they  were.  Will 
you  tell  us  something  about  grown  people? 
Do  ladies  and  gentlemen  work? 

Mary.  You  know  that  Willy  Thompson's 
father  is  the  owner  of  very  extensive  factories, 
where  he  employs  several  hundred  persons — 
men  and  women.  When  he  purchased  these 
factories,  the  workmen  were  vicious  and  in- 
temperate. Their  wives  had  wretched  homes, 
and  their  children  were  idle  and  ignorant, 
because  they  had  no  one  to  instruct  them. 

Willy's  father  and  mother  went  up  there 
to  see  how  their  workmen  lived,  and  they  im- 


88  A  FIFTH  DAY   IN 

mediately  set  to  work  to  reform  and  improve 
them.  They  provided  a  school  for  their 
children,  and  Willy's  mother  went  round 
among  the  cottagers'  wives  and  instructed 
them  in  housewifery,  and  in  making  gar- 
ments for  their  husbands  and  children.  His 
father  talked  to  the  men  about  drinking  whis- 
ky, but  they  told  him  they  were  too  poor  to 
buy  coffee,  and  that  they  drank  whisky  be- 
cause it  was  cheap.  He  then  made  a  calcu- 
lation for  them ;  showed  them  how  much  time 
they  lost  by  drunkenness,  for  which  they  re- 
ceived no  wages,  of  course,  and  made  them 
see  clearly  that  if  that  lost  time  were  filled 
up  with  work,  they  would  have  more  money, 
and  could  afford  to  buy  many  things  that 
they  must  now  do  without.    After  a  long  time 


MARY   CARROW'S   SCHOOL.  89 

of  weary  but  steady  and  kind  laoour  among 
them,  he  succeeded  in  prevailing  upon  them 
to  hear  the  Bible  read  and  to  go  to  a  place 
of  worship. 

The  Thompsons  have  been  labouring  with 
these  people  for  ten  years,  and  now,  by  the 
blessing  of  God  on  their  efforts,  they  have  the 
gratification  of  seeing  them  changed  from  a 
vicious,  idle  population,  into  honest,  temper- 
ate, and  respectable  people. 

Besides  all  this  work,  Willy's  father  regu- 
lates the  labour  on  his  own  farm,  and  his 
mother  takes  care  of  her  large  household  and 
orders  her  domestic  arrangements. 

Now  tell  me  if  rich  people,  who  are  good 
stewards  of  wealth,  have  not  as  much  work 
to  do  as  their  poorer  neighbours. 


90  A  FIFTH  DAY   IN 

Eddy  Forester  opened  his  blue  eyes  wide, 
when  Mary  had  told  him  all  these  things, 
and  said,  "  Yes ;  and  I  am  glad  my  mother  has 
only  Lily  and  me  to  take  care  of,  instead  of 
all  neighbour  Thompson's  people." 

Mary.  As  we  do  not  go  to  the  harvest- 
party  yet,  I  will  pursue  the  subject;  and,  per- 
haps, if  you  try  to  remember  and  think  upon 
what  I  have  said,  you  will  find  it  opening 
more  and  more  clearly  to  your  comprehension. 

You  know,  I  have  told  you  that  our  Hea- 
venly Father  has  many  different  kinds  of 
work  to  be  done  on  earth,  and  he  has  endowed 
men  and  women  with  a  great  variety  of  gifts 
and  faculties,  which  are  adapted  to  a  great  va- 
riety of  occupations.  There  are  men  and  wo- 
men whose  appropriate  work  is  to  spend  a 


MARY   CARROW'S   SCHOOL.  91 

great  part  of  their  lives  in  thinking  and  writ- 
ing books.  If  there  were  not  such  men  and 
women  we  should  have  no  schools,  we  should 
have  no  learning,  we  should  have  no  arts,  we 
should  have  no  sciences.  There  are  also  men 
and  women  whose  business  it  is  to  go  about 
among  the  poor  and  sick  and  afflicted,  to  re- 
lieve and  comfort  them,  and  sympathize  with 
them  by  personal  intercourse.  There  are 
many  whose  proper  business  it  is  to  be  en- 
gaged in  trade  and  merchandise,  for  a  civilized 
nation  could  not  live  without  commerce. 
There  are  those  whose  chief  business  it  is  to 
instruct  the  souls  of  people,  by  preaching  the 
gospel,  who  do  all  they  can  to  win  souls  to 
Christ  our  Saviour;  to  induce  poor  sinners  to 
come  to  the  Saviour  who  died  for  us  that  we 


92  A  FIFTH   DAY   IN 

might  have  eternal  life.  There  are  many, 
(women  especially,)  whose  lives  are  accept- 
able to  God,  who  are  scarcely  known  out- 
side of  their  own  family  circle ;  who  make 
our  homes  what  homes  ought  to  be — plea- 
sant, cheerful  places,  where  every  thing  is 
well  ordered  in  the  spirit  of  love  and  kindness, 
and  under  whose  influences  all  the  domestic 
virtues  flourish.  These  are  the  good  mo- 
thers, the  good  wives,  the  good  sisters,  the 
good  daughters. 

God  has  a  place  and  a  purpose  for  all  of 
us.  He  has  given  us  bodies  to  take  care  of, 
and  minds  to  be  cultivated,  and  souls  to  be 
instructed.  Nothing  is  to  be  done  without 
labour,  and  nothing  is  to  be  got  without 
labour.       We    cannot   live   without   the   la- 


MARY   C ARROW'S   SCHOOL.  93 

bour  of  others.  Hence,  it  is  our  individual 
duty  to  contribute,  by  our  own  labour,  to 
the  common  good  of  our  fellow-creatures. 
To  labour,  according  to  our  different  gifts,  is 
only  to  pay  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  we  owe 
to  one  another ;  and,  above  all,  to  labour  is 
our  duty,  because  God  has  said,  "  In  the  sweat 
of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread." 

The  little  clock  on  the  mantelpiece  now 
began  to  strike,  one — two — three — four,  the 
hour  for  school  to  close  on  this  afternoon. 

Books  and  work  were  soon  smoothed  away, 
and  the  whole  party  were  at  neighbour  Linn's 
at  the  time  appointed  for  hay-making. 


The  wise  in  heart  shall  be  called  prudent. 


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